Be Mine
by wondergirlinwonderland
Summary: Tristan's hit with the realization that the only thing better than living with and dating Serenity would be to marry her. Of course, he needs to ask her to do that before it can happen. (Spin-off of Legally Blond, very slight knowledge needed to understand this, which I will tell you in the Author's Notes)


**Title** : Be Mine

 **Pairings** : Ardentshipping, mentions of past Snareshipping

 **Rating** : T

 **Words:** **1680**

 **Author's Notes** : So, I had originally started this as a chapter in Legally Blond, my Puppyshipping fic. Then I realized it's basically just Ardentshipping so instead of posting it as a chapter for a fic where I don't know if anyone would really appreciate it, I made it its own thing. If you're reading/have read it, cool! If not, and you're only here for Ardenshipping, here's the background from LB you need to know: Tristan and Serenity are dating, they live in an apartment with Joey who is currently in another city attending law school, and he and Duke used to date and when they thought the two of them were getting engaged, Tristan put aside his hate for Duke but then Duke broke up with Joey.

Now, without further ado, here is my Ardentshipping one-shot.

* * *

Living in the apartment without Joey was weird…in both a good and a bad way. On the one hand, I missed my best friend. Naturally. We'd basically grown up together and been through just about everything. I didn't have my buddy to watch sports with, to rough around with, to even just talk with…

On the other hand, it was actually pretty cool. Living with only Serenity in the apartment basically made it feel like we were living together – like, for real.

In reality, I hadn't really thought about this happening. I mean, I had, but I figured I'd be a lot further in my career and she'd be done with school. But the more we seemed like a couple who was on our own, the more like a couple building a future we felt.

One night before bed, I watched her brush her still damp hair out by the mirror as I pulled the sheets back. She caught my eye in the mirror and smiled.

"What?" she asked gently.

"Nothing. You're just beautiful." She looked down shyly, finishing up before pulling her auburn hair into a ponytail.

When she came to the bed, she leaned over to give me a long, deep kiss before crawling under the covers. As I laid down and wrapped my arms around her, a thought struck me, hard.

I wanted to marry this girl. I wanted to ask her soon.

But there were things I needed to take care of first.

The next day, I held her a little longer than usual as we said goodbye, just reveling in the feeling of holding her. "Goodbye. I love you."

"I love you, too," she said, giving me a kiss.

"I'll be home a little late tonight. Don't worry about waiting to eat, alright?"

She looked confused, but didn't question it. "Okay. Let me know when you're on your way home."

I nodded, giving her another kiss before watching her walk into her building she had class in. I made sure she got in before putting my helmet back on and getting on my motorcycle to head to work.

I managed to get through the day without being too distracted, and on my lunch break, I pulled out my phone and dialed one of my most used contacts, getting nervous when I heard Joey's voice. "Hello?"

"Hey, are you busy?"

"Eh, I'm in the dorm, reading over this case file. You'll never believe who we're defending. Mai Valentine. From the neighborhood. Crazy, right?"

I laughed a little. "You probably not supposed to tell me that. Isn't there some kind of confidentiality thing?"

"It's going to be public knowledge as soon as the trial starts. It's not as if I'm letting you know real secrets. Anyway, what's up?"

I had almost forgotten I'd called with a purpose in mind. "Oh, right. Look, I need to tell you something, or maybe even ask…I don't know."

"You're not making sense, Tris, which is weird because usually I'm the one who makes no sense."

I chuckled and took a deep breath. I knew I had to spit it out before I lost my nerve. "I want to ask Serenity to marry me."

There was a moment of silence before, "You mean like…now?"

"Basically."

He let out a small laugh. "That makes sense, then. My first reaction was like, ' _Duh_ ,' but then I realized what you meant. Dude, good for you. I guess we're gonna be brothers for real."

"So, you're good with this?"

"Oh, come on. It's been how long since you two started dating? I don't own her or decide who she can be with, as if I'd ever think you weren't good enough anyway."

"Joey, that's not what I meant – though, knowing that's what you think is kind of refreshing. I was asking because, well, you and Duke…"

There was another silence. "Oh." I waited for a moment for him to continue. After a few moments of silence, I opened my mouth to say something but he beat me to it. "Listen, thanks for asking. That was cool of you. But don't you dare hold back on this because of me. You were willing to put aside whatever negative feelings you had when we thought it was me getting engaged, the least I could do is not sing a woe-is-me song when it's your turn. I wouldn't forgive you or myself if I knew my relationship drama was what kept you and Serenity from being happy."

Now it was my turn to be silent. Joey and I were never really the sappy set of best friends, but it was pretty easy to see that I'd hit the best friend lottery. "Thanks, man. You're a great friend."

"Brother."

"That, too, but you're not technically my brother yet. There's still a chance she'll say no."

"Eh, still like my brother. Got a plan?"

"Not really. I also don't have a ring, either. I think I'm going to the shop after work."

"Good luck. I'll leave you to it. I'll be expecting a call once it happens."

"If she says yes, you know you'll be her first call. If she says no, I'll let you know. Get back to the case, lawyer man. Thanks again."

"No problem. Bye, Tris."

That being squared away, I was left to figuring out the actual proposal, which certainly wasn't as easy as it might have seemed.

* * *

About two weeks later, I had it planned out. I patted the shirt pocket on my chest and felt the ring. I didn't know her size, but the woman who'd worked at the store said we could do that after the proposal. It wasn't all that fancy, either; she wouldn't care that it wasn't, but I knew she deserved more than I could give her.

She deserved the world. I would do what I could to give it to her.

I'd taken it upon myself to cook dinner that night, even though it technically was her turn. She came home from class to me already halfway through prepping and I had to nudge her into the living room until it was ready.

"You can come in now," I called, feeling my heartbeat in my throat. She came in slowly, eyes widening when she took in the table.

I'd set it up like a fancy restaurant, napkins folded elaborately (thank you, Internet!) and sparkling cider in tall glasses. On the plates were steaks, baked potatoes, and steamed vegetables – all things I was not used to making.

Serenity smiled that beautiful smile of hers and my stomach fluttered. "Tristan, you didn't have to do all this. What's this for?"

I shrugged. "Just wanted to be romantic," I half-lied.

She surprised me by jumping into a hug, wrapping her arms around me. "Well, it looks amazing. Thank you. I love you so much."

I squeezed my arms around her, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I love you, too, more than I think I know how to say." I don't know how long we stayed like that, but when we finally pulled apart and sat down to eat, I let myself get caught up in her, calming my nerves. Pretending this was just another sweet date night, not _the_ date night.

When we were done, she tried helping me clean up, but I once more ushered her into the living room. This time, she put up more of a fight over not being able to help, but I insisted. Then again, I didn't do a full cleaning, just putting everything in the sink. I'd finish tomorrow. Tonight, I had more important things to worry about.

I joined her in the living room when I was done, smiling as I sat next to her. "I have something for you, too," I whispered, kissing her on the cheek. I could see that she was about to protest that I didn't have to, so I shook my head. The gift was hidden under the couch cushion I was sitting on, so I reached under and slid it out.

I took a breath, carefully pulling out the photo album and sliding it into her lap. She tilted her head at me – _so cute_ – and I motioned for her to open it.

She slowly went through the pictures I'd put together – the family barbecues my dad used to throw that always included her and Joey, the prom pictures from my year and hers, our graduations, getting the keys to the apartment, that one road trip we'd saved up for and taken together a few months back…

All to the last page that was filled out.

 _I've loved every minute of our story so far._

 _I know, without a doubt, there's no one I'd rather keep living it with._

 _I want to keep our story going, so I have something to ask you…_

I saw her furrow her eyebrows a bit, and I could tell she was processing the lines I'd printed out and placed in the album. This was it. My cue.

As she started looking up to ask for clarification, I slipped down on one knee in front of her, swallowing down my nerves as I pulled the ring from my pocket. Her eyes widened when she saw, hand coming up to cover her mouth.

"Serenity, I have known for a long time that I am in beyond in love with you. When I'm having a crappy day, you turn it around, and when I'm having a good day, you make it even better. You're more than my girlfriend, you're one of my best friends. I know we're young, so we can take this engagement as slowly or as fast as you're comfortable with, but I just couldn't go another day without asking you to be mine."

She pulled her hand down to reveal her smile, sniffling a bit. "I'm already yours, Tristan," she pointed out, still smiling.

I couldn't help but chuckle, knowing what she was hinting at. "Then, Serenity Wheeler, will you marry me?"

She giggled and nodded. "Yes, yes, of course." She pulled me up into a kiss that I didn't want to let go of, and I took one hand from the dainty ring I'd been holding up to cup her cheek. When we did pull away again, she continued. "I love you so much, I can't wait to be your wife."

She gave me her hand and I slipped the ring on. It was a little big, but not falling off. "We'll get that sized perfectly soon," I promised, kissing her again.

When she pulled away again, she nodded. "And we can't tell anyone until we tell Joey in person. Wait, that's not fair, you have family, too. Okay, we can tell your family and then Joey. Or should we just call Joey?"

I laughed a bit at her rant. "We're visiting him in like, a week. We can wait to tell my parents and sister until we get back. Joey's my family too, pretty soon officially," I said, holding up her left hand in my right one. "I'm the luckiest man in the world," I whispered.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** I cannot believe this took me as long as it did or that it's as long of a one-shot as it is. If you're here because you read/are reading Legally Blond, hi! Thank you for your patience. I'm working on updating that as well. (As of posting this, I'm on chapter 21 of LB) If you're here for any other reason, thank you anyway for reading this. I hope you liked it. I always see Tristan as a total romantic so I'm sorry that this is so cheesy but please let me know what you think.


End file.
